Design gives a soul to the product and reaches to the heart of the people.

When Brands make this emotional connection with people they transcend ordinary brands.

This latest appointment is the newest stage in a highly successful career that has seen Peter Schreyer become one of the automotive industry's most respected authorities on product design. As Audi's chief designer between 1994 and 2002, he was credited with revamping the Audi brand with a number of revolutionary new auto designs. From 2002 to 2005, he was the Chief Designer for Volkswagen and since 2005 has been the head of advanced design for the Volkswagen group, earning critical acclaim for several crucial product launches, featuring a range of unique design concepts. Peter Schreyer's outstanding creative work has led to many national and international awards, including the Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany and the world famous red dot award. He has also won the German National Design Award several times for helping propel the German auto industry in new directions with his sporty and innovative designs.

As the hub of our global styling operations, the Namyang Design Center closely monitors international design trends to ensure that each new model encapsulates the core values of the Kia brand for markets around the world.

From ideation, styling and prototyping to researching new materials, we continuously tweak the design process in our quest for design perfection. Our Design Center first opened in 1977 with the goal of anticipating the lifestyle changes of our customers in overseas markets in order to better incorporate into our latest design trends. The efforts of our Namyang Design Center are augmented by satellite design centers in USA, Germany and Japan, which ensure that we continue to create unique design concepts and further embellish our reputation as one of the world's leading automakers.

By Paul Maric | March 12th, 2010

As one of only three automotive designers to be awarded with an Honorary Doctorate at the Royal College of Arts, it’s needless to say that Peter Schreyer is one of the automotive world’s most famous and successful designers.

After starting his professional career at Audi in 1978 as a design graduate, he moved on to Volkswagen in 1999. It wasn’t until 2006 that Kia swayed the German born designer to join its ranks. He is most famous for the iconic exterior design of the original Audi TT in 1995.

CarAdvice had the chance to sit down with Mr Schreyer at the 2010 Geneva Motor show to discuss cars and the direction Kia is heading, with respect to automotive design.

One of the key things Mr Schreyer reiterated to me was Kia’s rather neutral image prior to his arrival. Part of his design philosophy at Kia has been to unify the brand’s models with a “family face”, as he calls it.

“In the past, the Kia cars were very neutral. When you saw one on the road, you didn’t really know if it was Korean or Japanese…I think it’s very important that you are able to recognise a Kia at first sight,” Mr Schreyer said.

In addition to designing cars like the Sportage to stand out from the crowd, Mr Schreyer also believes his designs are timeless, saying:

“I feel quite happy about the way the Sportage came out. It’s not fancy and has a timeless design. It looks natural.”

While the design of cars is moving forward in the typical sense, Mr Schreyer worked to bridge the gap between efficient and non-efficient cars with the Sportage. He explained that cars like hybrids and vehicles geared toward extreme fuel efficiency shouldn’t need to look totally different to other cars on the road.

His aim with the Sportage was to give it the rugged looks of an SUV, while also adhering to aerodynamic principles often limited to cars like the Toyota Prius and its other counterparts.

I asked Mr Schreyer if there was room to further evolve the design of a car. If you were to forget about everything you knew about car design to date, what would you change to improve cars as they are today.

“I would love to redefine the way people think of a car today. Although we can go crazy on designs for show cars (removing door handles, etc.), we are limited to engineering standards and safety standards. If the standards didn’t exist, it would be something I would love to do,” Mr Schreyer said.

Mr Schreyer’s Kia designs to date have all been cars built for mass markets. When asked about the possibility of a sports car to express Kia’s emotions, Mr Schreyer said

“You are the fifth person to ask me this question today, but it’s a good one. Although we have nothing down the line, I’d love to do one…it’s your job to create the demand.”

He went on to talk about there being room for further products in the Kia range and ones that involve emotion and take away a purchase based on a rational decision alone. This is certainly similar to the path Hyundai has taken over the past years with cars like the Genesis.

During times that he is not based in Kia’s Frankfurt design studio, Mr Schreyer’s family gets around in a Kia Sorento and Kia Soul. He says that could change once the Kia Megentis is released at this year’s New York Motor Show, so we will certainly be keeping an eye out for it.

Peter Schreyer has been a design revolution for the Kia brand. His influence is sure to propel the Korean manufacturer well into the future and from all counts it is being lead with positive praise.

One On One

Korean car culture, with a European twist

After 25 years at Audi, Kia's top designer is bringing a different sensibility to the ambitious auto maker

Michael Vaughan

Kia Motors thought they'd scored a big coup about three years ago when they hired designer Peter Schreyer away from the Volkswagen Group.

He had worked at Audi for more than 25 years and created the original Audi TT and the Audi A6, which are still regarded as some of the best automotive designs in recent years. He was headhunted to lead Kia'sglobal design operation, supervising the company's regional design centres in Frankfurt, Los Angeles and Tokyo, as well as in South Korea.

I met him at the Frankfurt Motor Show, which wrapped up last weekend, standing in front of the all-new 2011 Kia Sorento.

The drab, old Sorento has been around basically unchanged since 2003. It is a boxy, smallish, truck-based SUV with the tackiest interior imaginable. The new one is a stylish seven-seat crossover that will be the first Kia vehicle to be built in North America as it rolls out of a new $1.2-billion manufacturing facility in West Point, Ga.

Peter Schreyer says the Kia Soul will attract people to the brand.

Vaughan: Peter, that looks like an Audi behind you.

Schreyer: I'll take this as a compliment.

This is the new Sorento and it is the first car that has been under my full guidance from the first model to the final car since I joined the company. I think it has a kind of European flair to it – a European flavour.

Has it been difficult after a couple of decades at a luxury brand like Audi to move to what has been a struggling [South] Korean brand at the lower end of the market?

I think it's a challenge and an interesting job.

Audi came a long way as well. When I first started there, Audi was in a similar kind of situation with a not very attractive product. Little by little, month by month, year by year we are building up a brand and an identity.

You also worked at Volkswagen and you've said the Kia Soul is like the Volkswagen New Beetle. Please explain.

Well, I think the Soul has a different character than all the other cars in the Kia product range.

In a positive way, it's like the black sheep of the family. It's a bit different. It has a very unique character in itself. So it has an iconic value to it and it will do a lot of good for Kia.

People will look at it and they will get attracted to the brand.

Let's talk about the Koreans and the Korean culture – it's very different from what you were used to.

Mentality-wise, there is a big difference. There is both a different kind of culture and a different kind of car culture.

Are you adjusting?

I think it's more interesting the more I learn about it. You can never say which culture is right or which is the one best way.

The Koreans are very impatient. They're in a hurry and they work incredibly hard. And they fire people regularly.

They are ambitious.

Considering that there was no Korean car industry a few decades ago and that they have come to the point – in less than 30 years – where Hyundai-Kia has 4-1/2-millions cars sold a year, it's amazing.

But they're still in a hurry for more. You're under the gun. Can you take the pressure?

Oh, yes.

I think that as a designer if you don't have the pressure, maybe you're not as effective.

I think you need a little bit of pressure.

They'll give it to you.

Yes, but still we have enough freedom.

Michael Vaughan is co-host with Jeremy Cato of Car/Business, which appears Fridays at 8 p.m. on Business News Network and Saturdays at 2 p.m. on CTV.

INTERVIEW WITH PETER SCHREYER

Guy Bird | 16 May 2009

Peter Schreyer is undoubtedly one of the industry’s most influential car designers. A graduate of the Royal College of Art in London in 1980, he is best known for his work with Audi in the 1990s – notably on the TT, A6, A4 Avant and A3 – as well as various show cars for VW in the early 2000s including the 2003 Concept R and 2004 Concept C. In late 2006, in a surprise move, he joined Kia as head of design where he has already put his stamp on several concepts including the 2007 Kee and 2009 No.3. Guy Bird caught up with him at the Geneva Motor Show 2009 to talk about the need for green car design, the environmental impact of Bugatti and his appreciation of Miles Davis and the Porsche 911.

GCD :Is the green agenda really on Kia’s radar yet?Schreyer : Oh yes, I think everybody in the car industry needs to somehow find an answer, ways to make cars more effective. We have some hybrids happening and mild hybrids in production already. There is also a big research centre in Korea combined with Hyundai building electric cars and fuel cell vehicles.GCD :But do you get involved with that side much or is it more for the engineers?Schreyer : Mainly it’s the engineers for now, but eventually we will discuss that [new car architectures] too. When they come up with new drivetrains that will change the layout of cars. At the moment you can see a development in the industry of going away from big and heavy cars.GCD :Does Kia see a need to articulate this newfound eco agenda in its visual aesthetics?Schreyer : If you drive a car like a Prius or maybe an Audi A2 it’s a kind of statement, so I think there is a certain importance to make that somehow visible or to make the customer aware of what they have through design. On the other hand, sooner or later I think eco cars will be a bit like flat screen TVs. A Long a time ago, when you bought a new TV people would say: ‘Is it black and white or colour?’ A little later of course it would be a colour TV so then they said: ‘Is it a flat screen or no? It’s a little bit the same with cars at the moment. Some cars are eco and some are not. Within a very short time, to have an eco car will be expected or normal, it will be kind of standard.GCD :So do you think in the future there won’t be a need for a green car design language?Schreyer : I don’t think it will split up between green cars and non-green cars. There might be a segment for a certain kind of people who maybe buy an electric vehicle as a second car to go to work in everyday. But if you want to drive to Italy you can’t use it.GCD :So Kia won’t be trying to design an overtly green-looking range (even in the medium term), like Mercedes is with its forthcoming BlueZERO range for instance?Schreyer : We are working on things like this but when or where we will show them I don’t know yet, I can’t tell you.GCD :Are there technical changes regarding greener cars – like the ‘closed mouths’ of some EVs compared to the gapey grille of Audi say – that can lead to new design cues?Schreyer : To me it’s a matter of the technology. Some of those cars don’t need as much air, and if you don’t need the air you don’t need a grille or an air intake, and then it’s obviously more aerodynamic too. We did that with the Audi A2 with its solid [plastic] grille, and it was for that reason. There was no cooler behind it [just an oil filler, dipstick and windscreen wash filler]. You could still open the bonnet but you didn’t need to, so we saved some weight through the lack of bonnet prop and other stuff too.GCD : In terms of new recycled or lower weight material, is there anything Kia is looking at that other companies aren’t that you’re excited about?Schreyer : Our advanced design studio in Korea works a lot with new materials but these things are not so easy, it’s very difficult to get them into production. We haven’t discovered a new type of lightweight aluminum for next year! [chuckles].GCD : From a personal perspective is the eco agenda something you’re particularly interested in, or is it just something Kia is saying you must do? And do you think technology will solve the problem or do you think it needs to be pushed by legislation?Schreyer : I think it needs to be pushed also. I think it needs the contribution of everybody, starting from the customer going back to the designers, engineers and marketing people. Everybody needs to go in the same direction.GCD :In terms of brands who do you think is doing the greenest work – in reality – not just in marketing?Schreyer : Bugatti maybe [laughs]? That’s because it only builds cars for ‘museums’. They don’t drive them. Some rich people buy them and put them in the garage and maybe drive down to the casino once a year.GCD :So its whole-life carbon footprint is quite low?Schreyer : Yes, and it creates a lot of employment too.GCD :More seriously, what about mainstream brands?Schreyer : Hard to say, I think, I can’t really tell. Everybody’s trying very hard and if you look through the exhibition here at Geneva on every stand you see a group of white cars with green graphics on them saying eco-something or other, and you never know: ‘Is that only the graphic or is the car really green?’GCD :What else influences your designs?Schreyer : People always say I got ‘this and that’ from a certain old car, but this is not really the point for me. I try to look at architecture and art and music, things like this. I like things that are not average, and people who follow their own vision – unfortunately some of them are already dead – people like Miles Davis, Frank Zappa. I’ve read his autobiography and went to many concerts of Miles Davis – in the last ten years before he died. He had real stage presence.

GCD : Can you bring some of that significance to car design or would you rather be a painter or some such?Schreyer : If I could I would like to be a painter. I would love to do that if I had more time.GCD :When will the first production car to truly bear your stamp arrive?

Schreyer : The replacement of the Sorento will have a lot more influence, it was in the very early phase when I arrived, then there’s a [Audi A6-sized] big sedan for US and Asia – it’s a cool car launching in 2009.

GCD :Which is the car you’d wished you’d designed?

Schreyer : I really like the Porsche 911. All of them, I like the 911 as an institution. Of course the original one but I like how the way Porsche evolved it and it’s still such a milestone today. It’s the icon of sportscars.

GCD :And a car you’re glad you didn’t?

Schreyer : [Laughs] Maybe quite a few. I don’t want to offend anybody but… [then after several days thinking about it by email] …It took me quite some time to think. But now I am pretty sure it’s the current Golf Variant.